Donate $500 to SBC, Get a Transportation Facilities Tour for You and Your Friends

As I write this, we just broke the $36K mark for Streetsblog Chicago's annual fund drive. We're grateful to all the advertisers, sponsors, and readers like you who have chipped in to get us this far.

But we've still got $13,910 to raise by Wednesday midnight in order to win the $50K challenge grant from the Chicago Community Trust. The additional $25K The Trust is offering this year will allow us to hire a part-time reporter to expand our coverage of the South and West sides, communities of color, and women’s transportation issues.

A couple more sponsorships and major donations are still in play, so I'm hopeful that we will meet our goal in time one way or another. But there's no way we're going to get there without a significant number of small-to-medium contributions from our readers. If you read Streetsblog Chicago on a regular basis and haven't already done so, please consider making a contribution today via our Public Good page.

If you're a daily SBC reader, a $100 contribution -- the equivalent of an annual subscription -- is a great way to move the needle on our fund drive. As a bonus, you'll also get a free copy of my cross-country cycling travelogue "Bars Across America" or the anthology "On Bicycles," which features a piece I wrote about Chicago's West Town Bikes education center. You'll also get a free beer at our next party on Thursday, August 30, 6-8 p.m. at Revolution Brewing's Kedzie taproom, 3340 N. Kedzie in Chicago, courtesy of the brewery.

But if you really want to help move the mercury in our Donate-O-Meter, give $500 or more and you'll be entitled to a free, private Chicago sustainable transportation facilities tour for up to ten people, led by yours truly and possibly another Streetsblog writer. Steven Vance and I are old hands at this, having shown around visiting transportation planners and advocates from countries ranging from Kenya to the Netherlands to Brazil.

The roughly two-hour tours are usually done on bike, but a walking and/or transit itinerary is also an option if you prefer. We'll check out the good, the bad, and the ugly among new bikeways, pedestrian facilities, and transit stations, ending with a hangout session at a bike-friendly eating and drinking establishment (pay for your own food and beverages.)

If this interests you, donate $500 or more between now and Wednesday, or drop me a line at jgreenfield[at]streetsblog.org for more information. Thanks for your support!